The True Despair within our Souls?
by DocTheMadKing
Summary: Maka Albarn was finally getting her chance to attend the famous Death Weapon Meister Academy were Ultimate weapons and meisters are made. But, with high hopes, she isn't unaware of the horrors Despair is about to offer...


I continued step by step, the sun beating down on my back, my gaze towards the grand building waiting at the top of the staircase. Death Weapon Meister Academy, a school in which Ultimate weapons and meisters are made.

My name is Maka Albarn. I'm not one of those special few that can turn into weapons, I'm just a meister with no partner. Then again, I'm not really special to begin with. Reading is the only good thing I'm know for. I guess that's how I earned the title of Ultimate Bookworm. Though, I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult.

Yet here I am, ascending closer and closer to the academy. Today was the day I would begin my journey to become a meister as extraordinary as my mother! I stood atop of the staircase, hands at my waist, boldly beaming at the academy's front doors.

A stepped closer, a hand placed on the doorknob "And here we go-" Yet my body froze. What was this... feeling? This overwhelming despair... I couldn't move, couldn't focus... my hand faded away from my vision and my head felt light.

"What...is... this..." My body didn't even feel as though it was on the ground anymore. I was falling, falling down an endless hole of darkness.

And then-

I stifled a groan, lifting my head off the desk. _Did I fall alseep in class?_ Blinking slowly, I surveyed around. It was dark and empty. The chalkboard was blank and the clock slowly ticked away. I can't believe I fell asleep-

 _Wait, I don't sleep in class! How did I even end up here?_ I sat upright swiveling my head around. I was definitely in a classroom, yet it was one I didn't recognize. All I could remember was arriving at the front of the academy.

"Is this the DWMA?" I mumbled aloud. My body felt heavy and my head light. It was unclear how this had happened but I was certainly in the academy. I stood up from the desk, my knees shaking, and made my way to the door. Light spilled out as I opened it and entered a long corridor.

"Where is everyone? There should be at least someone around." I said to myself, walking along the hall. Every window I came across was covered in metal plating. "What is going on here?"

As I rounded a corner, my eyes fell upon him and his eyes upon me. He stood there with his hands in the pockets of his yellow jacket. Piercing red eyes locked onto mine. Looking at his face brought this feeling of familiarity within me, yet I for sure knew that those boy was a complete stranger to me.

"Damn, I though he said he already checked this area. Dumbass..." the boy sighed, running a hand through his white hair. "I'm guessing you also don't know how you ended up here as well, right?"

I stood there, still dumbfounded. Finally realizing that he had asked me a question, I hastily replied. "Y-yeah! Are there others here too?"

"Besides you and me, there are 14 others that I've seen of." He answered. He stuck out his hand. "The name is Soul. Soul Evans, but everyone calls me Soul Eater. I'm the Ultimate Pianist."

"Maka Albarn, Ultimate... Bookwarm."

"Wow that's pretty lame actually."

"S-Shut up! I didn't pick it, Alright!"

"Actually, you know," he turned back to the way he had came. "Someone else here has that same last name. Spirit Albarn, I think?"

My heart jumped to my throat. _Dad?_ "W-where? I need to see him! Take me to him!"

"Well I guess since I found you I kind of have to." He said as he began to walk down the hall. "Everyone is gathered at the gym."

I followed behind closely. This was all so strange. Why was my father here? I don't remember him ever going to the DWMA. Actually, I could barely remember anything about him at all. I mean I knew he was my father and what he looked like, yet I didn't really know a lot about him or what he did. My dad had earned the title of Ultimate Romantic due to his ability to sway women to his will with just the sound of his voice.

Soul's voice cut threw my thoughts. "You know you're the eighth child to be found the other eight are adults."

"And no one knows how any of them got here?"

"Pretty much. Everyone has the same story. We all woke up in some classroom with no memory of how they got there."

This was still too much to comprehend; 16 people all ended up trapped in one building with no recollected memory of how. The thought of a kidnapping haunted me. Why was my father here? Why am _I_ here?

"Hey," Soul's voice pulled me from my swarmed thoughts. "I'm guessing you're pretty scared too, huh?"

I nodded my head. "This... this is too much... Who could of done this?"

"Trust me," he sighed. "Everyone is as clueless as you."

"So... you play the piano?" I said in an attempt to change the subject.

He gave a slight look back at me and shrugged. "I don't like to play often though..."

"Would you be willing to... play for me?"

"Perhaps... but don't get your hope up." He replied with a soft chuckle.

Something else came to mind, "So is everyone here an Ultimate?"

"I'm pretty sure. At least all the ones that introduced themselves were Ultimates. One guy won't even open his mouth or even look at anyone for the matter."

"That does sound odd. He must be pretty skeptical. To be honest, I would be too if I was around a bunch of strangers."

Soul let out a laugh. "He's actually the strangest one of them all! You can't miss him! He's like a giant! You know that he accidentally hit the top of the doorframe and knocked himself out for a solid ten minutes. Now he refuses to talk to anyone."

"He's probably just embarrassed." I claimed. I mean, I know I would. Yet, this still seemed so familiar. It felt as though I already knew where I was going. However, this was my first time stepping into this building.

Soul and I stopped before the two large doors to the gym, voices can be heard from within. At the top of one of the door frames was a smeared stain of blood. The thought of the impact made me shiver.

Hesitant, I pushed the door open and the chatter ceased to murmurs. Dozens of eyes fell upon, a familiar blue pair widening at the sight of my presence.

It was my father.

"M-Maka!" He gasped out, almost tripping over his own feet as he ran to me. "Sweetie, w-what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing..." I replied. Dad blew a heavy sigh as he glanced around at the others in the room, a hand running through his long red hair. Then, he wrapped his arms around me with my head pressed against his chest. I could hear his heart pounding against his rib cage.

He was scared.

I was scared.

Everyone here was scared.

"Oh and who is this beautiful young lady?" I glanced behind my father at at small blonde women with long yellow hair and an eyepatch. I knew this woman. I had read about her before joining the academy. Her name was Marie Mjolnir, the Ultimate Pulverizer. Rumor has it that she got her title from smashing the toilets in the school from no reason whatsoever. But I'm pretty sure it's because she's one of Lord Death's personal weapons, a hammer at that. Yet for having such a threatening title, she seems like a sweet woman.

"This is my daughter, Maka!" My father bragged as he threw an arm over my shoulder to present me. "She was supposed to join the academy as a meister, but..."

Marie glanced to some of the other children in the room. "Same as the others, huh..." There were six other children that looked around my age, some bunches up in small groups.

First was a boy with black hair and three white stripes on the left side. His suit suggested he's probably some rich kid. Along side him were two girls, both wearing the same red top and hats. One was taller than the other but their similar appearances probably meant that they were sisters.

Not too far from them was an odd pair. One was a boy with blue hair spiked in all directions. He was dressed in a black sleeveless top and white pants, sort of reminded me of a ninja. For his size, he was quite built. Standing next to him was a tall girl with her long, black hair pulled up into a tight ponytail. As the boy spoke, she would practically nod her head at every word.

However, standing alone in one of the far corners of the room, was a pink haired boy. He was quite skinny and was wearing a long and dark dress. Every so often, he give a slight, shy glance. Yet, as soon as our eyes met, he would quickly jerk his head away with his face flushed.

A sudden clap nearly made me jump out of my skin. The sound of heels tapping against the wooden turned my attention to the stern eyes of a dark haired woman.

"Alright, it seems someone else has been found!" She shouted out to everyone in the gym. "You all know the drill! Make sure to introduce yourselves one at a time! We don't want to overwhelm the young lady."

Beside me, I heard my dad heave out a sigh. "There she goes again. She's been bossing us around ever since we found her. I know she's the Ultimate Chairman and all, but yeesh! She could lay off a bit!"

The woman violently swiveled towards him with a cold glare. "I don't see you doing anything..." He instantly shrunk back in shame. How pathetic. She pushed her glasses further up her noses and approached. "I am Azusa Yumi, Ultimate Chairman. I would prefer if you would address me as Ms. Yumi though."

"Maka Albarn, Ultimate Bookworm." I replied. This woman doesn't really look like she wants to waste time. She stood completely straight as though her spine was just on long pole. She dressed rather formally as though she was about to go to a meeting.

"Hmm..." She studied me closely with her sharp, blue eyes. "I guess I do see a slight resemblance between you and that dolt of a father."

"H-hey!" He exclaimed, but another glare pushed him further away.

"Now then. I would prefer if you would stay in the gym area. We're not sure what kind of situation we're in so it's best we all stay put."

I gave her a quick nod. I guess she really has this whole thing under control.

"Hey, Maka!" I glanced over at Soul, who was waving me over to the group of other students. "I want to introduce you to Blackstar and Tsubaki."

"It's The Great Blackstar, to you!" Shouted the blue haired boy. "Blackstar, the Ultimate Ninja has brought his presence to you common folk! Ha! I should be called the Ultimate _Ultimate_!"

"There's no need to yell," the black haired girl mumbled. This must be Tsubaki, I assume. "She's right there."

"So you guys know each other?" I asked.

The three of them shook their heads. "Nah, I just ended up finding these two first." Soul replied. "Everyone here is a stranger to me..."

"Yet here we all are, cozying up to everyone as if we're friends..." We all turned around as the boy with the white striped hair made his way towards us. "Just because we're all here together doesn't mean we need to be all buddy-buddy with one another..."

Blackstar angrily stepped in front of him, going nose to nose. "Mind your own business, fancy pants." He growled. "No one was talking to you. So why don't you make like a tree and fuck off!"

Wow, I wonder what's up between those two.

"Actually it is my business," the boy replied nonchalantly. "We haven't gotten an introduction from this young lady. I would feel more comfortable if I were to at least become slightly acquainted with her. Perhaps she's more civilized than you."

"Why you-!" Tsubaki quickly threw her arm in front of Blackstar as he was about to pounce.

"I know everyone is tense at the moment," she began, "But that's why we need to trust each other if we want to understand this situation."

The two stood silent, till glaring at one another. The black haired boy finally released a sigh and turned his attention to me.

"She's right... I didn't mean to come off as hostile... I'm Kid by the way, Death the Kid. The Ultimate Heir. Oh and Blackstar..." He gave a sideways glance. "I may of... overreacted earlier. This has all be sort of a hassle for me."

I thought he was going to yell at him. Instead, Blackstar shrugged and said, "Hey you aren't the first one to punch me in the mouth!"

Wow... they made up that fast... Boys are weird...

"Now then," Kid began, turning to me. "I already know about you. It's all that father of yours would talk about. So I'm just going to spare you the trouble of going around to everyone individually."

"I already forgot everyone's names..." Blackstar whispered to my ear.

Kid began by pointing to the two girls, who were shooting us sideways glanced. "Those are the Thompson sisters. The eldest one is Elizabeth, but she told me that she wants everyone to just call her Liz. She's the Ultimate Stylist. Patricia, or Patty, is the Ultimate Gunslinger."

 _How... contrasting._

"That over there is Crona Gorgon," he pointed over at the pink haired boy. "He's the Ultimate Poet and I think that's his mother." I didn't notice her until now, but there was definitely a woman standing by his side. She has light brown hair that was braided in front of her chest, instead of the usual back braid, with sharp, piercing yellow eyes. It almost felt like her gaze was cutting into my soul.

"Oh yeah," said Soul, "That's Medusa. She's the Ultimate Snake charmer. I guess it makes sense with the name and all..."

"Yeah I think I got that..." I mumbled aloud sarcastically.

Kid continued the introductions. There was the young, blonde Ultimate Priest, Justin Law. There was the Ultimate Assassin, Sid Barrett. He was a dark-skinned man with cornrowed hair, but his basketball jersey and jeans really didn't scream "assassin". Turned out he was Blackstar's adoptive father. I never would of guessed. Next to Sid was a mummified dark skin woman also with dark skin with green military pants. Mira Naigus was her name, apparently the Ultimate Martial Arts Instructor.

"And who's that?" I pointed over to the bleachers where a man was laying on the top row.

"That's the guy I told you about, Maka." Soul replied. "By the way, has he said anything yet."

Tsubaki shook her head. "No... I think he feel asleep, actually."

I didn't bother to hear anymore, I was already making my way up the steps of the bleachers. Somehow, I just felt drawn to him. Upon getting a closer look, I could see what Soul meant by strange.

The most obvious thing to point out would the large screw going straight through his skull. That's right. This man has a screw in his head. I didn't even dare think of how it got there.

Besides that, he seemed like a doctor or scientist. He was dressed in a lab coat that had many stitch patterns. In fact, he was covered in stitches. There was one along his face, many along his shirt, and even on his shoes. Despite is overgrown silver hair, he looked quite young, he was probably around my dad's age. On his forehead was a bag of water, which was probably ice at some point.

I heard creaking steps behind as Marie came up the bleachers with a new ice pack. "Poor guy," she mumbled. "He hit his head pretty hard. There's even still a bruise on his forehead." She placed the old ice pack to the side and parted his bangs. Sure enough, they was large purple mark in the middle of his forehead.

"But he hasn't been out this whole time, right? I heard from the others that he's been up."

Marie laid the new ice pack on the bruise. "Yeah... he was the one that put himself up here. I think he's just in shock, though."

"I'm just a tired..." he mumbled through his lips. Marie and I both let out a sudden squeal when he quickly sat up, a bony hand holding the ice pack in place. His cold, olive colored gaze fell to the floor as he let out a groan, clutching the ice pack even harder. "Dammit... my head is killing me... I just want to be back home..."

I tried to make an approach, "Uhh... Hi, I'm-"

"Maka Albarn... Ultimate Bookworm... Daughter of Ultimate Romantic, Spirit Albarn..." he finished, not even looking up. Something about him made me feel tense, every word hung with this hidden emotion that I just couldn't figure out. The man, still avoiding eye contact, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pair of round spectacle. "I think I've pretty much heard everyone's names by now... maybe... I don't know... I've kind of been lost in thought most of this time..."

"Well you're okay and that's all that matters!" Marie beamed. He looked up after placing the glasses upon his face.

For a moment, there was a hint of pink in his cheeks. "Y-yeah, I guess so..." He stood up, easily towering over both of us. His eyes scanned over the room, mouthing numbers as he counted each head. He froze, a slight smirk now on his face. "Now this is interesting... why would the son of the Grim Reaper be trapped here?"

My eyes followed his to Kid, who's yellow eyes were glaring back. "So... you know..." he said back.

Everyone in the room had also turned to Kid. "W-Wait?! You're the s-son of Lord Death?!" Blackstar exclaimed. "Then what the hell is going on?!" The same question seemed to be on everyone's minds as their faces were twisted with anger and fear.

Kid stammered a bit, "I-I don't know... I've t-tried to get in contact with father... but... nothing..."

"Well scrambling around won't do us any good at the moment..." the man made his way down the bleachers. "It seems an introduction is in order. I am Dr. Franken Stein, the Ultimate Anatomist. To save you some time, just call me Doctor."

I looked around the room. This was everyone, 16 clueless victims of someone's twisted idea of a joke.

Or so we thought-

Suddenly, a loud ring came over the room. "T-st-ng! -ne, t-o!" A static voice came from a speaker above us. "D-mn mi-! Ho-d on!"

"What the hell is going?" I heard my father exclaimed over the irritable sounds that echoed from the speaker.

This time, however, the voice came out clearly. "Sorry, folks!" Said a shrill voice. "The mic was just cooooated in dust! I know you're all dying for answers, but I wanted introductions to be completed first."

"How about you show your face to us, bastard! Why are we all here?" Blackstar shouted at the speaker.

"Give me a sec! My robo keister went numb, then again that isn't possible. Puhuhu! I'm on my way!" Then the speakers cut out. Everyone looked to each other, confused and anxious. Movement caught my eye as I whipped my head towards the back room.

There was a stage shrouded in a red velvet cloak, the curtains moving apart. At the front of the stage arose a podium, the microphone pointing its head high into the air.

"So," Soul began, "Where's the guy who was just talking to us?"

"Why I'm right here!" The shrill voice called out as an object flew up from the stage and landed right on top of the podium before the microphone.

 _Is that a... teddy bear?_

It was in fact a black and white stuffed bear. It had a beady, black eye on its white side and a sharp red lens on the other.

"A-a... stuffed a-animal..." It was Crona who spoke out.

"Puhuhuhu~" The bear laughed. "I am no stuffed animal. I am... Monokuma!"

He screamed out. "T-the stuffed animal t-t-talks!"

"I. Am. Monokuma! Do I look like some Beanie Baby you get at the store?"

"Is this some kind of a joke?" Sid called out.

"A joke... you see me and think this is some kind of a joke... well..." He looked down for a moment. "You're toooootally wrong! This is reality, pal! Suck it up!"

Azusa stepped closer to the stage. "You have us all gathered here. What do you intend for us?"

 _Monokuma_ tilted his head. "Hmm? What do I intend for you? It's quite simple really. You just have to live here... forever."

"Forever!" Everyone cries out.

"There is no way I'm staying in here forever!" Liz exclaimed. "There's so much I want to do..."

"Trust me, girly," the bear huffed. "It's better off if you guys weren't out there. Scream and cry all you want, no one's gonna here you. With the windows and doors sealed up, there isn't much you can do to escape... unless..."

I spoke this time. "Unless...?"

"Puhuhu~ If one you yahoos really are itching for some outside air, then you have to do one thing..." Though the expression on his sown face didn't change, Monokuma's presence became dark and twisted. "You have to get away with murder..."

The room went still, as if the life drained from everyone here, their views of the people surrounding them changed from victims to future culprits. There was nothing but despair, and soon, that's all we'll find here.


End file.
